Posted by JonI love it when a plan comes together – and love it still more when things work out even better than one could have imagined. Here’s a little tale…

About two years ago, we ran a benchmark for a major life insurance company’s proposal team. They were doing some good things – despite being relatively under-resourced and under-valued. But, as is so often the way, there was plenty of potential to improve.

With strong board sponsorship, we recommended that they create a new proposal centre – and helped them to build it. I spent a wonderful nine months or so acting as the interim head of the centre -recruiting staff, training the team, developing new processes, working with an agency to create new design collateral. Account teams were delighted; customes gave excellent feedback; their win rates soared.

One of the folks we recruited re-located across the country at the start of last year to take up her new role. As she settled in to the new office, she met and clicked with one of her new colleagues in another department.

We’re going to their wedding today. That has to be the loveliest – unintentional! – consequence of any of the consulting projects I’ve ever run. So congratulations to Jen and Paul, and all of our best wishes for your future happiness together!​